Carl N. Brown
Member
Most catestrophic failure I have had shooting guns for sixty years now (have owned about 90 guns):
I had the weld fail on Grendel P10 action.
o factory .380 ammo
o testing function at the range in the snow
o high serial number (after Kelgren had left the factory and QC went to slap'em together and get'em out the door)
The action has a left and right slide rail welded to a monobloc; the right side weld gave way and cracked the polymer frame.
I did have a shotgun barrel peel on me (did not check the muzzle after stumbling on wet clay soil). The action was still tight and the case head showed no stress.
FWIW, I do tend to watch for bullet impact when I shoot, I was well versed on the dangers of squib loads by my Dad. When I reload, I follow my notes or a conservative handloading manual, and tend to reload for accuracy rather than hotrod performance. Plus charge each case one at a time and visually doublecheck each group of charged casings before seating bullets. And when shooting military surplus ammo, I have learned to countdown for hangfires rather than assume duds.
BTW, you don't have to have a barrel blow up on a rifle to have a catestrophic failure: the brass cartridge fails, or the primer gets pierced, you have 40,000 to 60,000 psi venting back. That can damage the action, stock and anything in the way of the pressure leaving the barrel intact. My son's Savage 110 rifles have non-rotating wings on the bolt that block the boltway, and vent holes on either side of the front ring of the receiver to bleed gas out that way, plus a rear bolt plug designed as gas shield.
I had the weld fail on Grendel P10 action.
o factory .380 ammo
o testing function at the range in the snow
o high serial number (after Kelgren had left the factory and QC went to slap'em together and get'em out the door)
The action has a left and right slide rail welded to a monobloc; the right side weld gave way and cracked the polymer frame.
I did have a shotgun barrel peel on me (did not check the muzzle after stumbling on wet clay soil). The action was still tight and the case head showed no stress.
FWIW, I do tend to watch for bullet impact when I shoot, I was well versed on the dangers of squib loads by my Dad. When I reload, I follow my notes or a conservative handloading manual, and tend to reload for accuracy rather than hotrod performance. Plus charge each case one at a time and visually doublecheck each group of charged casings before seating bullets. And when shooting military surplus ammo, I have learned to countdown for hangfires rather than assume duds.
BTW, you don't have to have a barrel blow up on a rifle to have a catestrophic failure: the brass cartridge fails, or the primer gets pierced, you have 40,000 to 60,000 psi venting back. That can damage the action, stock and anything in the way of the pressure leaving the barrel intact. My son's Savage 110 rifles have non-rotating wings on the bolt that block the boltway, and vent holes on either side of the front ring of the receiver to bleed gas out that way, plus a rear bolt plug designed as gas shield.